Cellular communications technology, including radio access technology, has grown rapidly and evolved since the launch of analog cellular systems in the 1980s, starting from the First Generation (1G) in the 1980s, Second Generation (2G) in the 1990s, Third Generation (3G) in the 2000s, and Fourth Generation (4G) in the 2010s (including Long Term Evolution (LTE) and variants of LTE). Additionally, fifth generation (5G) access networks, which can also be referred to as New Radio (NR) access networks, are currently being developed and expected to fulfill the demand for exponentially increasing data traffic, and to handle a very wide range of use cases and requirements, including among others, mobile broadband (MBB) services, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services, and machine type communications (e.g., involving Internet of Things (IOT) devices).
As part of the expansion of the cellular platform for new services, and to keep track with the increasing needs of the automotive industry, functionality of the cellular infrastructure is being developed to provide enhancements specifically for “vehicle-to-everything” (V2X) communications, which can comprise, for example, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-network, (V2N) and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communications. This development of the cellular infrastructure, functionality, and protocols (e.g., standards) for V2X communications is often referred to as cellular vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, or C-V2X communications. C-V2X communications leveraging cellular network infrastructure can provide reliable, actionable information flows with high definition quality services while paving the way for connected and autonomous driving into the near future. The collaboration between automotive and wireless telecommunications technologies is driving the next generation of autonomous vehicular designs. Evolutions in mobile network infrastructure will continue to further drive the C-V2X standardization efforts to meet the increasing needs of the automotive sector with new use cases. The development and commercialization of C-V2X technology involves multiple stake holders, including carriers, technology providers, automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and infrastructure vendors (to identify some stakeholders), all working together to implement and showcase the benefits and efficiency in the use of this technology for advanced vehicular connectivity and intelligent communications.
As more user equipment embedded in vehicles (e.g., automobiles, automotive vehicles, etc.) are connected to mobile networks, information and multimedia content can be distributed via this network, so that more user equipment can access in-vehicle entertainment-related services.
The above-described background is merely intended to provide a contextual overview of some current issues and is not intended to be exhaustive. Other contextual information may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.